Fruit Dubious

I HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY THE GODS ONCE AGAIN! Thank you so much for everything you do! You have no idea the impact you've had on my life as a whole.

It definitely has been. And thank you! I did my best.

TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM The Full Story: Howdy everyone! My name is Andrew, and I have been a computer nerd ever since I was seven years old. I still remember my first PC running Windows 2000, but have no idea what hardware was inside of it, because I got in trouble every time I tried taking something apart. Fast-forward to December 2008, I’m 11, my parents finally gave us a computer with access to the internet. I discovered something that would change my life forever: A video… of Linus opening up a motherboard box and explaining what it was on YouTube. Being a nerdy kid, I was hooked instantly by the sexy allure that is: Linus computers. I became a regular watcher of LinusTechTips (and other channels), NEVER MISSING A VIDEO ABOUT SOMETHING NEW. At the age of 12: after discovering that normal people can build computers like expensive Legos, I begged my parents to let me do it. But always getting told it was, “too risky,” or “too expensive,” made me settle on watching Linus do it instead. I did, however, get a nice gig volunteering for my school helping teachers with their computer problems. It let me skip classes and I got to tinker with computers, so to me, it was a win-win. But the urge to build a complete computer system wasn’t satisfied; that is, until my senior year. At my high school, during senior year, you are required to do a project that involves 40 hours of work - research counted if your topic was complex enough. So naturally, I took the opportunity to fulfill my dream of building a computer. To pay for it, I set up an agreement with my parents where I only paid for half of the project in cash and worked off the other half that they paid for. I was ready. I used all the information Linus had taught me over the years: compatibility shopping, deal hunting, tech dropping, cable management, screwdriver control, EVERYTHING my mind could bring forth. The project came to a close with me building a system with an FX-6300, Radeon R7 260X, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD. It cost a total of $600, and I got an A+ from the teachers. I loved that computer, and used it as much as I could. BUT ALAS, I had to sell it in order to pay to move into a new house - as my parents started going through a divorce in 2016. I began helping support my mom since then - working at McDonald’s, living mostly paycheck to paycheck - which left little money aside for technology and fun. UNTIL LAST YEAR… In March of last year (2019), a customer in McDonald’s had a laptop giving him trouble, so during my break I decided to help him out. It only took a couple minutes to get it working - he was having trouble with our WiFi - so we started chatting. He gave me his card, and told me to call him if “I thought about leaving McDonald’s.” Turns out, he’s the owner of a small counseling office. Of course, as soon as my shift was up, I called. He said he was in need of someone to help with their computers, printers, and other "tech stuff." He offered me the same per month as my current job (something I didn’t even tell him yet) with half the hours and a fraction of the stress. I put in my two-week notice as soon as that call was over. A few months went by, and I got a cheap laptop and spent my free-time running a side gig making websites and offering IT services to other people. Life was turning around for the better. Then, when Christmas came around, I realized I had enough saved to build a computer and not be strapped for cash. ”I COULD FINALLY HAVE A REAL COMPUTER AGAIN,” was the first thing that ran through my head, and I nearly cried. I excitedly told my mom, and began putting together parts lists and searching YouTube videos for product reviews. LinusTechTips being first, of course. After ordering my first part, the new Noctua NH-DH15 chromax.black edition, I actually cried when I saw the LTT logo on the box. I couldn’t believe I had gotten one of the limited edition coolers… Then BOOM, inspiration struck. I began modifying my parts list to fit a Black, White, and Orange color scheme. I decided to make this computer in honor of the man who was basically an “internet father” to me, teaching me all the things I ever wanted to learn. So, without further adieu, here are the specs and pictures of my boss, my best friend, and I assembling what I call… The LTT Shill Build BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! After the PC was complete, my gut was telling me that she wasn’t done yet. Her final form had yet to be reached, but I was uncertain as to why… She was GLORIOUS, in all of her LTT wonder. BUT THEN... The PC Gods shined upon me. A, “ping,” from my phone. “The Facebook Marketplace? What do they wa-” was as far as my thought got until I saw it: The PERFECT deal. A GTX 1070, in the EXACT same theme as the motherboard, for only $170. You best believe I hopped on that deal as fast as my fingers would let me. After the "new" graphics card was installed, I took a look at my background image and decided “I can do better than that.” SO I DID. I took a high-resolution image of the LTT logo, and made it fit the color scheme of mostly black, with white as the secondary color, and orange as the tertiary color. So here she is everyone: The LTT Shill Build, Mach II TL;DR: I was always a computer nerd and LTT fan. Built a computer I was proud of at a young age, later went through some hard times, had to sell the computer, and now I have finally made it back to the PCMR with an LTT Themed PC that I have already upgraded once.

I think it would be cool if there was a booth for the parents who are there for their kid(s). Kind of like a "Computers 101 Booth" for parents who want to try and understand their nerdy kid(s) better.

Question: were your games stored on a different storage device than the one you reformatted Windows on?

It sounds like it could be a windows power management issue. Windows can turn off certain devices if other devices with a higher priority level need power it couldn't normally provide (think 'Rerouting the power from life support to engines'). Try dialing back your overclock settings and/or seting windows power management mode to the default 'High Performance' settings.

Seeing as it works fine in safe mode, it could be a driver issue. Install the latest drivers while in safe mode and reboot normally. If that doesn't work, revert drivers back a few versions and try again. I see that you are also on an older BIOS version, so updating that could help. The newest version is 3.60 on ASRock's website. If there is still and issue after trying the previous steps, it could be a bad DP port.

As a last minute question: are you plugging in your monitor's cable into the GPU after you insert it into the motherboard? It is fairly common for people to put a GPU in and still plug the cable into the motherboard by mistake.

If that doesn't work, try the GPU in another PC. If it fails there too, you may have been bamboozled.

500 Watts is the bare minimum recommended for the r9 280. So, If it boots without the GPU it could be a Power Limit issue and you need a beefier power supply. Just to check: Does the power supply have the required 8 and/or 6 pin cables for the GPU?

It could be a power issue. What's your power supply? Also: Did you see the card working before purchase?

Double check a few things. 1) Check if you are plugged into your graphics card and not the motherboard for video output. 2) Make sure all of your software, drivers, BIOS, etc. are up to date. 3) Use the Nvidia Settings tools to make sure you're graphics settings are not defaulted to the Intel iGPU.

You may have [a] dead or dying RAM slot(s) on your motherboard.

Are you placing the RAM in the correct slots? Some motherboards will refuse to boot unless the RAM configuration is correct.

Is mining not against AWS's terms of service?